By Xavier La Canna

The detention centre was established on the tiny island as part of the former Howard government's "Pacific Solution" to combat boatpeople, but is soon to be closed by the new Labor government.

Nauru is already heavily reliant on Australian aid but says it will need extra help after the centre is officially shut, probably in March.

Foreign minister Dr Kieren Keke said 100 Nauruans were employed directly by the centre and about 1,000 people, 10 per cent of Nauru's population, relied on those workers to support them.

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"We have got a huge number of families that are suddenly going to be without any income. We are looking at ways we can try and provide some welfare assistance but our capacity to do that is very limited," Keke told AAP.

"Literally we have got a major unemployment crisis in front of us," he said.

Unemployment in Nauru is currently about 30 per cent, although it is much higher among young people.

Hospitals and schools would also lose the help of asylum seekers who undertook volunteer work while in Nauru, Keke said.

The centre, which has operated for about six years and contributes 20 per cent of Nauru's $25 million in gross domestic product, effectively shuts down on Friday when the final asylum seekers leave.

Twenty-one Sri Lankans granted humanitarian visas will fly to Australia on Friday, effectively bringing an end to the so-called Pacific Solution.

A formal closure of the centre, with a handover to Nauru authorities, is expected by the end of March.

Officials from AusAid, the Department of Immigration and Citizenship and the International Organisation for Migration have held talks with Keke this week to try an avert a crisis in Nauru.

Keke said his country wanted funds to set up a regional centre for training young people.

He said such a centre could alleviate a skills shortage and offer training for people from other Pacific nations including Kiribati, the Republic of the Marshall Islands and Tuvalu.

"We are not going to be asking for just extra cash aid to fill a gap. That is not sustainable for Australia and I don't think it helps us in the long term," Keke said.

In the short term, Nauru hopes the detention centre can be used as a temporary secondary school.

Keke will travel to Australia at the end of this month and hopes to take his concerns to Foreign Minister Stephen Smith.

Phosphate mining once made Nauru wealthy but it has since fallen into debt and now receives $8.7 million a year in aid from Australia, according to the AusAid website.